“What about you? Your mom?”
“Not so much.”
THEY STAYED AT ANGIE CONROY’S INN. SHE WELCOMED
THEM warmly, and asked questions about the case that neither of them wanted to answer.
“Um, look, Angie, we real y want to keep a low profile while we’re here,” Hannah said. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention to anyone that we’re visiting.”
“Of course,” Angie said, managing to look offended. “We always respect our guests’ privacy.” She offered to help them with their bags, but they politely declined and climbed the stairs alone. Their bedrooms were adjoining, on the second floor.
“Meet you downstairs in ten minutes?” Sean asked. He was conciliatory, trying to make up for what he now saw as his insensitivity.
“Fine,” Hannah said. The nicer he was, the worse she felt. They went to their rooms, dropped their bags. Hannah took a moment to use the bathroom and brush her teeth, reapply her lip gloss. Sean was waiting when she came downstairs.
“Where do you want to go?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I’m not sure. Camila and I went to the Fitzhugh apartment when we were here last.” It suddenly struck her that there had been no warnings about Jerome Pierce for that trip.
Had something happened to make Parekh more concerned this time around? Or was it simply that they were closer to the trial and tensions were rising? “Maybe we should drive by Samuel’s grandparents’ house—not to stop, I think, but just to find out where it is in case that’s where we have to speak with him.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Sean said. “I don’t think that would go wel .”
“It’s stil worth knowing where it is,” Hannah insisted. “We know that Sam wil be coming from the house tonight when he goes out. If we can figure out where he’s going, then maybe we’l be able to work out his route, and catch him along the way.”
“I thought you were planning on crashing the party.”
Hannah shrugged. “I think we should, if we have no other option.
Assuming we can get the address. But it would be better—and safer —to talk to him away from his friends, I think.”
Sean was busy with his phone. “Sam’s grandparents’ place is on Pulaski Street. It’s a five-minute drive, but it wil take us twenty minutes to walk. I think we should take the car.”
“Okay.”
Sean drove. They parked a little way down the street. The house was a two-story weatherboard home. It was pretty, even if the weatherboard was a little worse for wear and the grass overgrown.
There was no wind that day and the American flag hanging from a flagpole outside the house was limp and sad looking. Hannah’s phone buzzed. She woke the screen and checked social media, scanned the latest entries. “There’s been a lot more chatter,” she said. “It looks like the boys are planning on going to a bar before the party. Somewhere they can play pool?”
“They’re al underage, aren’t they?” Sean said. “I mean, if Sam’s eighteen presumably his friends are around the same age.”
“I guess they have fake IDs. Or maybe the bar turns a blind eye, if they need the money.”
“I’d real y rather not talk to him in a bar,” Sean said. “That’s very public.” Hannah scanned through the messages.
“I don’t think we’re going to have much choice. He’s already with friends, at someone’s house. I doubt if he’s going to go home before he goes out. The bar might be our best chance.”
Sean grimaced. “Wel , which one is it?”
“I don’t know. They al know the place they’re talking about, so no one feels the need to name it,” Hannah said, frustrated.
“Wel , let’s just try to figure it out. It’s Yorktown. How many bars can there be?” He pul ed off to the side of the road and they went through the messages together, looking for references to any specifics that might help. There wasn’t much, and in the end they decided that the reference to playing pool was al they had to go on.
There was a bar, about five miles out of town, that advertised cheap beer, a three-hour happy hour, and pool tables. It sounded like the kind of place that attracted trouble and underage drinkers.
“We should go there now,” Hannah said. “We’l find a table, get something to eat. Have a drink, settle in. We’l be there when Sam and his friends arrive.” She wanted to get this over with.